HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS- ERNEST HEMINGWAY -

SYNOPSIS

• The story sets at train station in Zaragoza, Spain when a man and a woman sit at a table while they are prepare to order drinks.

• The man orders beer, and then Anís del Toro (a powerful liqueur)

• In 40 minutes, the train for Madrid will arrive from Barcelona.

• while they are having their drinks, their conversation reveals that the woman, Jig, and the man, or the American are at odds over her pregnancy

o Jig wants to keep that baby and she gives hints that she wants to discuss about the baby.

• But, the American does not want to keep the baby and wants her to abort the baby.

• He says their life will continue like before.• But, Jig says that the liquor taste the same which

means that every man is the same. After a few argument, the man get annoyed and asks the woman to cut it off.

• then, with sarcasm the woman says that she will abort the baby. In contrast, the man says that she can have the baby if she wants.

• Jig gets up and walks to the end of the building. There, she looks around to the land on the other side. She sees trees, grain fields, and the Ebro River, then says, “And we could have all this.” When the man tells her that they can have whatever they want—“We can have the whole world”—Jig says, “It isn’t ours any more . . . And once they take it away, you never get it back.”

• A woman brings them two more beers and alerts them that their train will arrive in five minutes.

• The man then carries their two suitcases to the other side of the station. When he returns, he asks how she feels. She replies, “There’s nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.”

AUTHOR’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY

• Ernest Hemingway was born on 21st July 1899 in Oak Park, Chicago, USA.

• He was the second of six children. He was born at eight o'clock in his grandfather's house which was located at 439 North Oak Park Avenue

• Ernest's mother taught all her children music and creativity and took them to concerts, art galleries and operas.

• Ernest's father taught his children to love nature.

• He insisted on the proper handling of guns, rods and tackle and he taught Ernest physical courage and endurance.

• Before turning to fiction, he worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star and served as a First World War ambulance driver before enlisting with the Italian infantry and suffering a wound.

• After the war, he worked for the Toronto Star and lived for a time in Paris and Key West, Fla. During the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, he served as a newspaper correspondent, then lived in Cuba until 1958 and Idaho until 1961, the year of his death by suicide.

HISTORICAL CRITICISM

• Historical criticism is the light of the

historical evidence or based on the context

in which a story was written including

about the author’s life and the historical

and social circumstances of the time.

• "Hills Like White Elephants" was first published in Paris in transition magazine (spelled with a lower-case t) in August 1927. In October of the same year, Scribner's published it in New York as part of a Hemingway short-story collection, Men Without Women.

• The story is telling about the pregnancy, abortion, relationship and commitment.

• Though there is no word of abortion, but we can understand it with the use of symbolism and the sentence.

• For example “ It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,’ the man said. (pg 36,line35)

• The simple operation here means that the abortion process.

• From our understanding, Jig is not the first woman that had undergone this problem with the American.

• The line “ you don’t have to be afraid. I’ve known lots of people that have done it”(page37,line 9) shows that the man is familiar with this situation.

• The short story, "Hills Like White Elephants," by Ernest Hemingway, has a lot to do with how the author lived. The time period the story mostly relates to is when he was married to Hadley and having an affair with Pauline. The story shows problems within a relationship and a lack of communication between a couple. 

• Another part of the story that relates to his life is the setting. While Hemingway was in Spain, the setting of the story, he found out that Hadley was pregnant for the second time. The story might have shown his true feelings about the pregnancy. In the story, the boyfriend is moody and wants the girl to do what he wants. This could be the same way Hemingway felt towards Hadley towards the end of their marriage. Also, on the manuscript of the story, he wrote a note about Pauline. This shows that he cared about her while writing the story. 

PHSYCOLOGICAL

• Psychological criticism view works through

the lens of psychology. They look either at

the psychological motivations of the

characters or of the authors themselves,

although the former is generally

considered a more respectable approach. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL• Jig’s emotional argument

- The couple is in the middle of making a drastic decision where there are only two choices, two directions, just like the two rail lines that pass by the station.

- The woman gives hints to the man in order to solve their problem

- “ What should we drink?” the girl asked.(page35, line11)

- From this line, we conclude that instead the man, the woman tends to ask what they should drink, which means what we should do about the baby

o This gives us point that the woman is very care about the baby. This shows that Jig is fighting with her emotional.

• Anger- The man is angry with the woman after Jig is

trying to talk about their problem again.- The line “ Oh, cut it out” (page36,line16)

shows that the man is angry and asks the woman to stop being sarcasm to him.

- It is because, the woman says that “ Everything tastes of liquorice” which means every man is the same.

• The man is being selfish- The man is being selfish towards Jig.- In order to further his enjoyment in life, he asks

Jig to abort the baby because he says that the baby will be an obstacle to them.

- “ That’s the only thing that bothers us. It’s the one thing that’s made us happy”(page37,line 4)

• The man treats the baby as the burden in their life and blames on the existence of the baby

• Here, we can conclude that he is not responsible to what he had done.

FEMINIST CRITICISM

• Feminist criticism is concerned with the

impact of gender on writing and reading.

• They may argue that gender determines

everything, or just the opposite: that all

gender differences are imposed by

society, and gender determines nothing.

FEMINISM

1. Man dominationo In the story, we understand that the American man

has money, and he is an adult because he seems to knows what he is doing. He doesn't want to have a child. Therefore, he is asking his girlfriend to risk her life by having an abortion. The surgery's death rate was higher than its survival rate at that time. All this makes him very selfish, as well. He doesn't care about her, despite the fact that he says: 'well, I care about you.' (Hemingway, page 37, line 31).

2. The American’s life history• we can understand from his comment

I’ve known lots of people that have done it?, (Hemingway, page 37, line 9,10 ) that he had too many relationships with teenage girls before, and he has been through the same situation numerous times. 

o Here, we can conclude that Jig is not only girl that has been deceived by the American

3. woman’s hope• It is evident from the text that Jig has the

abortion because she listens and obeys to everything the man tells her to do.

• When The American tells her that the Anis del Toro is good with water so Jig gets hers with water.

• The line is “ Anis del Toro. It’s a drink”

“ could we try it?” ( Hemingway, page 35,line30-31)

• the woman, who is called the girl in the story, has

no identity. We don’t know where she is from, or if

she has a family.

• We can understand that she is a teenager who

depends on a careless man. Furthermore, it’s

clear from her words,

• …and if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be

like they were and you’ll love me?? (Hemingway,

page 37,line 19-20).

• This shown that she is a lonely desperate girl who still

hopes for happiness. Nevertheless, she knows she will

never have it.

• That’s why it’s obvious from her reply,

I don’t care about me?, (Hemingway, page 37,line 30),

that she is depressed, and even ready to die by

agreeing to the abortion. 

CONCLUSION

• The writer is trying to tell us there is an older, rich and

self-centered man who is afraid of the responsibility of

having a child

• In this short story, Hemingway tries to tell other man not

to betray the wives and be responsible for what we done.

• Hemingway is trying to portray his disappointment

because he had cheated his wife.